Pale as a beluga whale, rocking a beard right out of Amish country, Baylor quarterback Nick Florence looks like a guy who might spend the day working under his car in the driveway in his hometown of Garland, Texas.

In nearly every way, Florence looks like a regular dude, nothing like the man who preceded him at his position, Robert Griffin III, the rookie NFL star.

The differences are striking, but so now are the similarities of their accomplishments.

Only one year after Griffin set the school record for passing yards in a single season, Florence, in his senior year, eclipsed it. On a drive in the second quarter of Baylor’s 49-26 dunking of UCLA in the Bridgepoint Holiday Bowl, Florence surpassed Griffin’s 4,293 yards.

As it turned out, Florence barely squeezed by. With Baylor’s running attack in full gear (306 yards) and holding a big lead, Florence threw only two passes in the second half – both complete for a total of 14 yards. He ended up being 16 yards better than Griffin at 4,309 after finishing the game 10-for-13 for 188 yards.

In its 12 previous games this season, Baylor had fewer passing yards only once, and in nine other games it eclipsed 300 yards through the air.

The key strike in setting the record was the perfectly arced pass down the sideline in the second quarter that found receiver Tevin Reese in stride for a 55-yard touchdown.

Art Briles, the homespun head coach who has spent his entire career in Texas, shook his head in wonderment when considering Florence getting the record.

“I’m shocked,” Briles said. “We didn’t throw the football! I had no idea with threw it that few times. That’s extremely unusual for us. But we kind of got in a mood (to run the ball).”

Briles gushed about how Florence, who led the nation in total offense, handled the pressure of replacing Griffin, the 2011 Heisman Trophy winner and No. 2 pick in the NFL draft.

“My gosh, if you’re a Baylor fan, you got to see Robert Griffin, arguably the best football player in America, a year ago, and then you get to see Nick Florence come in and do what he did this year,” Briles said. “I don’t know what the dessert is going to be, but the main course has been pretty good!

“Nick had an impossible job, and whoever is coming in after him has an impossible job. But it’s a good thing. Our guys, their expectations have risen.”

After the game, Florence spoke very humbly about his success. In Griffin’s shadow, Florence played in parts of 18 games and threw eight touchdown passes. He notched 33 this year, including two on Thursday night while also running for a score – giving him 10 running TDs for the season.

“For me, I have always wanted the opportunity to play,” said the 6-feet-1, 205-pounder. “I’ve been saying it all year, all you want in life is a chance and an opportunity, and I just happened to follow a Heisman Trophy winner. I had to go out and be me. I’m not 6-3; I can’t run 4.3 (in 40 yards); you saw that tonight.